Aaniiih (Gros Ventre) Language

Andrew Cowell is a professor of linguistics and director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado. He is the author of Naming the World: Language and Power among the Northern Arapaho, coeditor of Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories, and coauthor of The Arapaho Language, among other books. Terry Brockie is a member of the Gros Ventre tribe and has served as teacher, school superintendent, and ceremonial leader. He is a coeditor of Aaniiih/Gros Ventre Stories.

“Andrew Cowell’s comprehensive grammar is an essential roadmap to Aaniiih. It dissects the complexities of the language and lays out discernible patterns in a simple and understandable way. In many ways the grammar acts like a Rosetta Stone, decoding a worldview that those who have gone on left embedded within the language. Terry Brockie and many of his contemporaries were among the last to recognize the need to dig in and spend time with the few remaining elders who spoke Aaniiih. Their work, coupled with that of Andrew Cowell, has created a solid foundation for these young folks to springboard from and make Aaniiih theirs.”-Randall Collin Werk Sr., Aaniiih Mountain District representative, Fort Belknap Indian Community Council “Invaluable both for the Aaniiih community seeking to revitalize the language and for Algonquianist linguists eager to understand the role of Aaniiih in comparative and historical linguistic work. This book is an inspiring example of a ‘revitalization grammar.’ Cowell’s volume demonstrates how much can be discovered in the corpus of earlier documentation and presents the material in such a way that current community members can make use of the detailed descriptions.”-Amy Dahlstrom, author of Plains Cree Morphosyntax

• List of Abbreviations and Symbols Used in This GrammarList of TablesAcknowledgementsChapter One: Introduction1.1 Situating the Aaniiih Language in Time and Space1.2 The Aaniiih-Arapaho Languages1.3 Classical and Twentieth-Century Aaniiih1.4 Contemporary Aaniiih and Revitalization1.5 Summary: What is a Revitalization Grammar?Chapter Two: The Way Aaniiih Works2.1 Agglutination (prefixes and suffixes) and Polysynthesis (multi-concept words)2.2 Animacy of Nouns: NI vs NA2.3. Different Verbs (Verb Stem Types) in Relation to the NI/NA Distinction2.4 Different Verb “Orders” for Different Types of Information2.5 Word Order and Other Means of Information Focusing2.6 Person Hierarchy: Who’s Most Important?2.7 Male and Female SpeechChapter Three: Phonology: The Sound System3. 1 Phonemic Inventory and Features3.1.1 Consonants3.1.2 Vowels (Including Vowel Length, Vowel Harmony, Vowel Tone)3.1.2.1 Vowel Length3.1.2.2 Vowel Harmony3.1.2.3 Vowel Tone3.1.3 Phonotactics (Allowable Sound Combinations)3.1.4 The Issue of Final /-n/ and /-w/.3.2 Combining Morphemes (Meaning Units)3.2.1 Underlying Stems3.2.2 Glide Vowel3.2.2.1 /V + V/ Sequences3.2.3 Consonant Mutation3.2.4 Vowel Quality Changes3.2.5 Timing of Application of Vowel Harmony3.2.6 Summary of Sound Changes Occurring Due to Morpheme Combinations3.3 Stress, Syllable Structure, and Effects of Stress on Vowels3.3.1 Syllable Structure3.3.2 Stress3.3.2.1 Lexical Stress on Stems3.3.2.2 Grammatical Stress3.3.3 Stress and Vowel Devoicing; Loss of Final -Vh/Ɂ3.3.4 Stress and Vowel Quality3.3.4.1 Stress and Vowel Quality (Long Vowels)3.3.4.2 Stress and Phoneme Sequence /CyV/3.3.4.3 Summary of Stress and Vowel Quality Changes3.3.5 Stress and Vowel Syncope3.3.6 More on Derivation, Inflection and Grammatical Stress3.3.7 Deletion of Final Stress3.3.8 Spreading of Stress and Syllable Merger3.3.9 Prosodic Stress Beyond the Stem3.4 SummaryChapter Four: Noun Inflection and Derivation4.1 Noun Classes: Animate and Inanimate4.2 Noun Inflection4.2.1 Plural4.2.2 Noun Stress4.2.3 Obviative4.2.4 Locative4.2.5 Possession4.3 Verbal Nouns4.4 Noun Derivation4.4.1 Diminutives4.4.2 ‘Young of…’ Suffix4.4.3 Vocatives4.4.4 Deverbal Forms4.4.5 Compounding and Noun Stem Formation4.4.5.1 Compounding4.4.5.2 Noun Stem Derivation (Creation)4.5 Pronouns4.5.1 Personal Pronouns4.5.2 Indefinite Pronouns4.5.3 Pseudo-verbal and other “Presentational” Forms4.5.4 Interrogative Pronouns4.5.5 Possessive Pronouns4.6 Noun Phrases4.6.1 Prenouns vs. Full Verbal Modifiers4.6.2 Proclitics Occurring with Nouns4.6.3 Adjectival and Number Verbs4.6.4 Determiners4.6.4.1 Definiteness and Identifiability4.6.4.2 Emphatic Determiners4.6.5 Noun Phrase SyntaxChapter Five: Verbal Inflection5.1 Proximate and Obviative System5.2 Affirmative Order Verb Inflections5.2.1 II Verb Inflections, Affirmative5.2.2 AI Verb Inflections, Affirmative5.2.3 TI Verb Inflections, Affirmative5.2.4 TA Verbs Inflections, Affirmative5.2.4.1 Direction-of-action Theme Markers5.2.4.2 Person Hierarchy5.2.4.3 TA Inflections5.3 Non-Affirmative Order Verb Inflections5.3.1 II Verb Inflections, Non-Affirmative5.3.2 AI Verb Inflections, Non-Affirmative5.3.3 TI Verb Inflections, Non-Affirmative5.3.4 TA Verb Inflections, Non-Affirmative5.3.5 Non-Affirmative Order Particles, Prefixes and Proclitics5.4 Imperative Order Verb Inflections5.4.1 Direct Imperative, AI5.4.2 Direct Imperative, TI5.4.3 Direct Imperative, TA5.4.4 Indirect Imperative5.4.5 Delayed/Future Imperative5.4.6 Suggestive/Potential Imperative5.4.7 Lexical Imperatives5.4.8 Affirmative Order Imperative Forms5.5 Conjunct Order Verb Inflections 5.5.1 Simple Conjunct Mode5.5.2 Iterative Mode5.5.2.1 ‘Whenever…’5.5.2.2 Dubitative5.5.2.3 ‘Whatever, However…’5.5.2.4 ‘On…’ ‘In…’ ‘At…’5.5.3 Subjunctive Mode5.5.3.1 ‘When…’5.5.3.2 ‘If…’5.5.3.3 Hypothetical and Contrary-to-fact5.5.3.4 Contrary-to-expectations5.5.3.5 Epistemic marking5.5.3.6 ‘Until…’5.5.4 Dependent Participle5.6 ‘To be…’ in Aaniiih5.6.1 Predicate Nominals5.6.2 Predicate Adjectives5.6.3 Predicate Locative5.6.4 Predicate Possessives5.6.5 ‘To be’ InfinitivesChapter Six: Verb Derivation6.1 Primary Verb Derivation: Verb Finals6.1.1 II and AI Primary Abstract Derivational Finals6.1.2 TI and TA Primary Abstract Derivational Finals6.1.3 Concrete Finals6.1.3.1 Dependent Concrete Finals6.1.3.2 Concrete Finals Derived from Independent Verb Stems6.1.4 Verb Medials and Noun Incorporation6.1.5 Medials as Verbal Classifiers6.1.6 Open-Set Noun Incorporation6.1.6.1 ‘Have a....’6.1.6.2 ‘Be a... ’6.1.6.3 ‘Become a... ’6.1.6.4 ‘Have as a relation.... ’6.1.6.5 ‘Create or procure a...., ’ ‘Do work on or fix a.... ’6.2 Secondary Derivation6.2.1 Valence Reducing6.2.2 Valence Increasing6.2.3 Valence Increasing, Two Arguments ⟶ Three Arguments6.2.4 Stem Class Shifting6.2.5 Multiple Derivational Suffixes6.3 Examples of New Verb FormationChapter Seven: Verbal Prefixes and Initials7.1 Epistemic Prefixes Regarding Certainty of Information, and Evidentiality7.2 Prefixes Indicating Relative Temporal Relationships7.3 Prefixes Indicating Aspect and/or Temporal Frequency7.4 Auxiliary-type (Deontic Modal) Prefixes7.5 Prefixes Serving as Quantifiers and Intensifiers7.6 Prefix Detachment7.7 Manner, Direction and Location Prefixes/Verb Initials7.8 Deictic Directional Prefixes7.9 Reduplication7.10 Complex Verb Initials and Prefixes7.11 Noun and Verb Compounds vs. Initials: Restrictions on TI and TA StemsChapter Eight: Tense, Aspect and Modality8.1 Affirmative Order Tense and Aspect8.1.1 Initial Change8.2 Non-Affirmative Order Tense and Aspect8.3 Imperative Order Tense and Aspect8.4 Conjunct Order Tense and Aspect8.5 Sequential Action8.6 Modality8.6.1 Evidential Modality8.6.2 Epistemic Modality8.6.3 Deontic Modality8.6.3.1 Commitments, Purposive Statements8.6.3.2 Ability statementsChapter Nine: Deverbalization  Processes and Noun Formation9.1 Agent Nominalizations9.2 Deverbal Participles9.2.1 AI Participles: Action and State Nominalizations9.2.2 TI Participles: Instrument and Product Nominalizations9.2.3 TA Participles: Action Nominalizations9.3 Impersonal Verbs: Place and Time Nominalizations9.3.1 Additional Place Nominalization ProcessesChapter Ten: Main Clause Syntax10.1 Pragmatic Focus and the Sentence-Initial Position10.1.1 Non-Actors in the Marked Position10.1.2 Summary of Main Clause Syntax10.2 Smaller-scale Syntactic Order in Aaniiih10.3 Discontinuous Constituency10.4 Di-Transitive Verbs and Secondary Objects10.5 Comparatives and Superlatives10.5.1 Comparison of Equality10.5.2 Comparison of Inequality10.5.3 Comparison Questions10.5.4 SuperlativesChapter Eleven: Subordinate and Complement Clauses11.1 Relative Root Preverbs11.1.1 Relative Roots as Initial Elements of Verbs Stems11.1.2 Use of Relative Roots to Form ‘to be’ Expressions11.2 More on Adverbial Clauses: “Prepositional” Phrases, Direction and Location11.3 More on Complement Clauses: Complementizer11.3.1 Complement Clauses: Translation of English ‘to…’ Infinitive Clauses11.4 Pseudo-Cleft Expressions with Relative Roots11.5 More on Relative Clauses11.5.1 Relative Clauses and Adjectival Verbs11.5.2 Relativization of Different Semantic RolesChapter Twelve: Particles and Discourse12.1 Simple Particles12.2 Complex Particles12.2.1 Locative Particles12.2.2 Adverbial Particles12.2.2.1 Detached Forms12.2.2.2 Independent Forms12.2.2.3 Instrumental Adverbial Particle12.2.2.4 Non-animate Causation and the Instrumental12.2.2.5 Pseudo-Pronominal Preverbs12.3 Exclamations12.3.1 Admonitive Exclamations12.4 Conversational Particles12.5 Discourse-level Particles12.6 The Grammar of Politeness12.6.1 Questions12.6.2 Commands12.6.3 Requests and Recommendations12.6.4 Statements12.6.5 What Aaniiih Doesn’t DoChapter Thirteen: Numbers, Times and Dates13.1 Introduction: General Principles of Numbers in Aaniiih13.2 Cardinal Numbers13.3 Ordinal Numbers13.4 Distributive and Collective Meanings13.5 Types, Kinds13.6 Money and Value Expressions; Weights, Lengths, Degrees, etc.13.7 Time: Number of Days13.8 Time: Specific Days, Months, Seasons13.9 Time: Hours and Minutes13.10 Time: Age13.11 Time Duration (Lengths/Quantities of Time)Chapter Fourteen: Special Language Practices14.1 Placenames14.2 Personal Names14.3 Traditional Narratives14.3.1 Opening and Closing Formulas14.3.2 Main Clauses and Narrative Past Tense14.3.3 Sequential (‘and then…’ ‘and next…’) Clauses14.3.4 Subordinate Clauses14.3.5 Reported Speech in Narration14.3.6 Large-scale Discourse Structure14.4 Songs14.5 Prayer14.6 Announcing and Honor Calling14.7 Animal and Bird Calls, Sounds and Speech14.8 Baby TalkChapter Fifteen: Modern/Twentieth-Century Aaniiih15.1 Phonology15.2 Nouns, Pronouns and Noun Phrases15.2.1 Plurals15.2.2 Locatives15.2.3 Possession15.2.4 Pronouns15.2.5 Noun Phrases15.3 Verbal Inflections15.3.1 Affirmative Order15.3.1.1 Details on TI (and AI.T) Affirmative15.3.1.2 Details on TA Affirmative15.3.2 Non-Affirmative Order15.3.2.1 Details on AI Non-Affirmative15.3.2.2 Details on TI Non-Affirmative15.3.2.3 Details on TA Non-Affirmative15.3.3 Imperative Order15.3.4 Conjunct Order15.3.4.1 Simple Conjunct15.3.4.2 Dependent Participle15.3.4.3 Iterative and Subjunctive15.3.5 The General Process of Shift from 1S to 1P Inflections15.4 Tense, Aspect and Modality15.4.1 Tense and Aspect15.4.2 Modality15.5 Twentieth-Century Aaniiih from a Broader Aaniiih-Arapaho Perspective15.6 Twentieth-Century Aaniiih from a Contact Perspective15.7 Twentieth-Century Aaniiih and Internal Language Change15.8 ConclusionChapter Sixteen: Contemporary Aaniiih and Revitalization16.1 Phonology16.1.1 Male and Female Consonants16.1.2 The Role of Underlying Forms in Learning and Pedagogy16.1.3 Orthography16.2 Nouns, Pronouns and Noun Phrases16.2.1 Noun Plurals16.2.2 Possession16.2.3 Noun Phrase16.3 Verb Inflections16.3.1 AI and TI Inflections16.3.2 TA Inflections16.3.3 Imperatives16.3.4 Iterative and Subjunctive Inflections16.3.5 Dependent Participles16.4 Tense, Aspect and Modality16.5 Other Components of the Grammar16.6 Special Speech Forms16.7 New Word Formation16.8 Summary of Key Issues and Current Plans in Revitalization AaniiihChapter Seventeen: A Classical Aaniiih TextAppendicesAppendix One: Aaniiih Historical Phonology, from PA to AaniiihAppendix Two: From PA to Classical Aaniiih: Basic InflectionsAppendix Three: Umfreville’s 1786 Documentation of AaniiihAppendix Four: Prince Maximillian von Wied’s 1833-34 documentation of AaniiihAppendix Five: Hayden’s 1855 Documentation of AaniiihAppendix Six: Unexpected NA NounsAppendix Seven: Revitalization Aaniiih Verb ParadigmsBibliography and SourcesIndex